Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on August 30, 2013; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-13-1151 Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Steroidogenic Enzyme AKR1C3 is a Novel Androgen Receptor-Selective Coactivator That Promotes Prostate Cancer Growth Muralimohan Yepuru, Zhongzhi Wu, Anand Kulkarni1, Feng Yin, Christina M. Barrett, Juhyun Kim, Mitchell S. Steiner, Duane D. Miller, James T. Dalton#* and Ramesh Narayanan#* Preclinical Research and Development, GTx Inc., Memphis, TN 1Department of Pathology, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN. #RN & JTD share senior authorship. *Address correspondence to James T. Dalton (
[email protected]) or Ramesh Narayanan (
[email protected]) Preclinical Research and Development GTx Inc., 3 North Dunlap, Memphis, TN-38163 Ph. 901-523-9700 Fax. 901-523-9772 Conflict of interest: MY, ZW, FY, CMB, JK, MSS, DDM, JTD, and RN are employees of GTx, Inc. 1 Downloaded from clincancerres.aacrjournals.org on September 25, 2021. © 2013 American Association for Cancer Research. Author Manuscript Published OnlineFirst on August 30, 2013; DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-13-1151 Author manuscripts have been peer reviewed and accepted for publication but have not yet been edited. Translational Relevance Castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) is characterized by the emergence of a hypersensitive androgen signaling axis after orchiectomy or medical castration. The revival of androgen signaling is believed to be due to high intra-tumoral androgen synthesis, fueled by up-regulation of steroidogenic enzymes, including AKR1C3. Here, for the first time, using molecular and in vivo preclinical models, and human CRPC tissues, we demonstrate that the steroidogenic enzyme AKR1C3 also acts as a selective coactivator for androgen receptor to promote CRPC growth.